Discuss: In the Pines

Subject: looking for the origional in the pines
From:
Date: 27 Mar 01 - 06:47 PM

with all verses if possible

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: looking for the origional in the p
From: MMario
Date: 27 Mar 01 - 10:04 PM

there are two versions in the Digital Tradition - putting [in the pines] into the search box up in the top right corner will bring them up for you.

three versions here

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: looking for the original in the p
From: Sorcha
Date: 27 Mar 01 - 10:16 PM

Grace, I don't know that there even IS a "first version" of it. Did you come back and look at your first request, click here? It is usually better to try and find your first request than to start another. If you are a member you can "trace" your request and keep track of it. Membership costs you nothing except a cookie, which you can delete and refresh.

"Folk" generally means there is no "first" or "final" or "definitive" version. Pick your verses. Sorry if I sound cranky tonight. I just do get a little tired of answering the same question for the same person several times. "ALL verses" is an impossibility.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: looking for the origional in the p
From: MMario
Date: 27 Mar 01 - 10:19 PM

woops! I didn't check the forum. me bad!

it isn't in the Levy sheet music collection tho...

Subject: RE: Origin: In the Pines
From: Joe Offer
Date: 20 Jun 20 - 10:55 PM

Needs cleanup

Subject: RE: Origin: In the Pines
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 23 Jun 20 - 11:19 AM

This request is from 2001.

With this song, it helps to know that cemeteries are often planted with pine trees. If you're going down a two-lane highway in America, and you see tall pines outlined against the sky on top of a hill, they are probably in a cemetery.

Verses I've learned that are not in the DT

Them long steel rails with short cross-ties
gonna carry me far from home.
That lonesome track gonna take me back
where a man calls his soul his own.

I kissed mama's cheek in a last goodbye,
now I'm lonesome as I could be.
For you gave me tears and wasted years
for the love you took from me.

Subject: RE: Origin: In the Pines
From: Lighter
Date: 23 Jun 20 - 11:49 AM

Down here in Dixie, tall pines are common, but probably less so in cemeteries, which are either spread out with few trees, or in churchyards with few trees.

At least that's been my impression.

To me, "In the pines, where the sun never shines, etc." simply means deep in a dark pine forest, of which there are many.

Subject: RE: Origin: In the Pines
From: cnd
Date: 23 Jun 20 - 05:21 PM

I've always assumed the general meaning of In the Pines was that the singer killed the woman/man that betrayed them, and so they are "sleeping" in the pines. Alternatively, some versions make it sound like the singer has run away to hide in the pines after murdering their partner.

Subject: RE: Origin: In the Pines
From: Gallus Moll
Date: 23 Jun 20 - 06:07 PM

Many older churches/church-yards in Scotland have a row of Lime trees on either side of their driveway. (Don't know if it is the same in England?)
Also not sure if it is common to all churches, or to certain denominations eg Scottish Episcopal?

Subject: RE: Origin: In the Pines
From: leeneia
Date: 24 Jun 20 - 04:36 PM

I don't see or sense anything in any of these verses that has anything to do with murder. This is a song about sadness and depression.

Subject: RE: Origin: In the Pines
From: GUEST,cnd
Date: 24 Jun 20 - 04:50 PM

Leenia, perhaps I've heard different versions than you but the implication has always been murder to me.



The longest train I every saw,
Went down that Georgia line.
The engine passed at six o’clock
And the cab went by at nine.

   In the pines, in the pines where the sun never shines,
   And I shivered when the cold winds blow.

Little girl, little girl, don’t lie to me,
Tell me, where’d you stay last night?
I stayed in the pines where the sun never shines
And I shivered when the cold winds blow.

I asked my captain for the time of day,
He said he throwed his watch away.
It’s a long steel rail and a short cross ties,
I’m on my way back home.

The train run about a mile from town
And it knocked my fair girl down
Her hair was found in a driver’s wheel
And her body has never been found

(Lyrics typical to the versions I've heard copied from https://nativeground.com/pines-history-lyrics-tips-playing/)



The questioning of the "little girl" and then the highly suspicious circumstances of her murder, tied to the portending introduction of the train which murders the girl really makes me think it's about murder.

Of course, individual singers could adapt versions to be about sadness and loneliness, but most versions I've heard don't strike me that way.

Subject: RE: Origin: In the Pines
From: The Sandman
Date: 24 Jun 20 - 05:03 PM

Where Did You Sleep Last Night
Lead Belly
My girl, my girl, don't lie to me
Tell me where did you sleep last night
In the pines, in the pines
Where the sun don't ever shine
I would shiver the whole night through
My girl, my girl, where will you go
I'm going where the cold wind blows
In the pines, in the pines
Where the sun don't ever shine
I would shiver the whole night through
My girl, my girl, don't you lie to me
Tell me where did you sleep last night
In the pines, in the pines
Where the sun don't ever shine
I would shiver the whole night through
My husband, was a hard working man
Killed a mile and a half from here
His head was found in a driving wheel
And his body hasn't ever been found
My girl, my girl, don't you lie to me
Tell me where did you sleep last night
In the pines, in the pines
Where the sun don't ever shine
I would shiver the whole night through
Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Huddie Ledbetter

Subject: RE: Origin: In the Pines
From: Lighter
Date: 24 Jun 20 - 07:17 PM

The version I heard around 1970 was pretty much like cnd's.

But I thought it described a gruesome train accident, not a murder.

Subject: RE: Origin: In the Pines
From: GUEST,..gargoyle
Date: 24 Jun 20 - 07:43 PM

I always took it to mean....
a nether region of the body..

Sincerely,
Gargoyle